Andhra Pradesh   

Village shandies offer variety fare in literature

BRISK BUSINESS: Kaluram Raut selling literature on a variety of subjects at village shandies in the Marathi areas of Adilabad district.

ADILABAD: The rural society was never ignorant in the conventional sense of the word as can be inferred from the variety and number of books that sell at village shandies.

There is a wide range of subjects on which books, invariably in pocket size, are found in the small makeshift bookstores that provide inkling into the reading inclinations and tastes of rural folk.

The only feature about such books that needs some attention is the questionable ‘information’ when it comes to certain sensitive subjects like sex. The books that claim to impart knowledge on sex seem to be the only popular source of information on the subject to rural youth.

“The most popular subjects among my customers are bhakti and sex,” reveals Kaluram Raut of Nanded in Maharashtra who has been selling pocket books in the shandies in Adilabad district for the last 25 years. He frequents the Marathi speaking villages mostly and the books he sells are in Hindi or Marathi.

“While middle and old aged persons purchase books on bhakti, the youngsters buy titles on sex education. The aged persons also seek books on celibacy like this one on Brahmacharya while the youth sometimes demand for a copy of the guide on beauty,” he points out. The books on home remedies in the category of medicine are also very popular among villagers. It is perhaps because a variety of herbs are readily available in villages that the books are quite popular. There are booklets titled ‘Mazedar Shayari’, ‘Zabardast SMS’ and English speaking course that are also much sought after by the rural youth these days. Others on subjects like sleight of the hand and card tricks are also picked up by the younger generation.

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